Current trends indicate that by 2002 there will be 1B subscribers worldwide to mobile phones. By 2004 there will be more Mobile phones in use than PC's. Mobile phones have become personal, trusted devices. Mobile phones, such a the Genie manufactured by Philips Electronics, typically have an LCD as part of the user interface and there is a trend to provide an ever larger number of onboard software services.
Hand-held computing devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDA), e.g., the PalmIIIx manufactured by 3COM or a Windows CE-based handheld, can be connected to the Internet via a wireless modem. As a result, ubiquitous information access via the Internet has started to become reality. Examples of a wireless modems are, for example, the Minstrel marketed by Novatel Wireless, and the Ricochet from Metricom. The Minstrel is a two-way wireless modem for a PDA that lets the user browse the Web and receive email, among other things. In a more general sense, a wireless modem like the Minstrel or Ricochet provides the handheld device with an IP address that can be used by any type of application that uses the Internet for communication (within limitations of throughput, latency and coverage). The Minstrel uses a technology referred to as Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) that is supported by the cellular service providers. Web surfing is limited to a CDPD speed cap of 19.2-kbps. The Ricochet has a faster connect rate, in the 28.8K-bps range, but it is supported in only three metropolitan centers (the San Francisco Bay area, Seattle and Wash.).
Studies further indicate that the functionalities of PDA's and mobile phones have started to converge, and that a mobile information society is developing. There will be an emerging of dedicated devices. PDA's are now work-related. In the near future PDA's will be personalized computers that stay with the user all the time. PDA's will get more power and smaller size and accommodate more, and more versatile, functionalities.
Bandwidth and display size are believed to be the factors that limit the usability and practicality of the handheld device, be it a mobile phone, a palmtop or a hybrid. In particular, the GUI and the services accessible to such handhelds are critical factors for the consumers' acceptability of such services. In particular, e-commerce or electronic shopping may benefit from the ubiquity of handhelds if the implementing technology addresses the consumers' needs in terms of user-friendliness of the handheld devices.